In a bid to restart discussion of what to do with the nation's nuclear waste, four U.S. senators today unveiled a draft plan to create a federal agency that would oversee short- and long-term storage of the highly radioactive materials produced primarily by commercial power reactors. The effort follows the Obama administration's decision to abandon a planned centralized waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nevada, which led to recommendations from a blue ribbon panel assembled by the White House on what to do next.

"Our country can't wait any longer to find a long-term solution for disposing of nuclear waste," said Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, in a statement. "I'm hopeful the feedback we receive will help us finish the job and allow us to move forward with legislation that puts the U.S. back on the path to safely managing and permanently disposing of the most radioactive wastes." [link to news.sciencemag.org] .

RICHMOND -- Dominion Virginia Power plans to switch the type of nuclear reactor it would use in its proposed North Anna 3 power plant.But the Richmond-based utility emphasized that it has not made a decision to build the third reactor at North Anna.

The new-design General Electric-Hitachi reactor would be more economical to buy and simpler — and thus safer — to operate over the unit’s planned 60-year life than existing and competing technologies, the company said.The company told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday that the General Electric Hitachi Economic Simplified Boiling-Water reactor would be “the best solution to the company’s need for future baseload generation” of electricity. [link to www.dailyprogress.com] .

A memorial ceremony has been held in Ukraine to mark the 27th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear plant accident at Chernobyl.

On April 26th, 1986, an explosion occurred at the plant's No.4 reactor under experimental operation. Ukraine was part of the now-defunct Soviet Union at the time.

The accident released a massive amount of radioactive materials. About 30 plant workers and firefighters died after suffering acute radiation exposure.

The United Nations estimates that about 6,000 children near the plant have developed thyroid cancer.

In the town of Slavutich, people mourned the victims by leaving candles and flowers at a monument on Friday morning. Slavutich is 50 kilometers from the Chernobyl plant and many of the maintenance workers live in the town.

They prayed that the accident will never be repeated.

The damaged reactor was covered with a protective structure made of concrete and metal right after the disaster.

But the so-called stone coffin has deteriorated. The Ukrainian government is building a new shelter with a budget of more than one billion dollars that includes financial support from Japan, the United States and Europe. [link to www3.nhk.or.jp] .

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

”In this case, the public got hardly any dose at all,” James F. Stubbins, a professor of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering at the University of Illinois, told Design News. “And the workers’ doses were low, too.”

from comments..

In the article "Panic Over Fukushima" by Dr. Muller, as is the case in most articles arguing for the limited harm of radioactivity in Fukushima, he is only accounting for external exposure to gamma radiation based on looking at only one radioactive isotope. In Fukushima we also must account for internal exposure which is being ignored; especially the alpha and beta emitters which are very hard to measure internally. It is in the food, water, meat, milk, fish, rice and air. Cesium 137 is a potassium analogue and goes into muscle while Strontium 90 is a calcium analogue going into bone. It readily concentrates in the food chain. There are many other radionuclides as well that are not featured in these discussions. With Fukushima, we see a huge number of radionuclides and their isotopes as well as many variants due to chemical reactions in the reactors and within nature itself. To compare all of this internal exposure to levels of external exposure in Denver is like comparing apples, to say a Chevrolet or an alder tree. There is no fair comparison. Just a rough and convenient estimate that is good for pro-nuclear opinions.

The time frame in question when dealing with radioactive waste ranges from 10,000 to 1,000,000 years, according to studies based on the effect of estimated radiation doses.

"Despite their good intentions, the senators ignored the fact that we have a problem right now with how nuclear plant owners store this highly radioactive waste," said Dave Lochbaum, the director of the Nuclear Safety Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). "Even under the rosiest scenario, it will take years to site and build an interim storage facility. That means large quantities of nuclear waste will remain at nuclear plants for a long, long time—and three quarters of it is currently crammed in cooling pools rather than stored in dry casks, which are safer."

What’s so bad about the cooling pools? They lack diverse emergency cooling and water makeup systems and most are not protected by robust containment structures. They also rely on electricity, and are thus vulnerable to events leading to power loss, such as flooding and seismic activity, or to terrorist strikes that cause a loss of water from the pool. Loss of cooling could result in fuel damage and a potentially massive radiological release. Such a scenario was a main concern with the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011 where the cooling systems for the facility’s pools failed due to lack of power.

The high density of radioactive fuel in the pools is also a concern. More spent fuel in pools increases the heat load and reduces the response time necessary to address problems. Storing less radioactive material in the pools would mean a smaller radiological release in the event of an accident.

In order to minimize the economic losses from the disaster which may reach USD 180 billion in 2015, it is important to come up with a comprehensive development program for the regions affected by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant explosion in 1986. Such statement was made by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych during his visit to the plant in Chernobyl on the 27th anniversary of the nuclear disaster. Construction of a new safe confinement is one of the core aspects of converting the zone into an ecologically safe area, reiterated President Yanukovych.

About 2,700 people are still employed at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant, despite the fact that the last reactor has been shut down in 2000. The parliament of Ukraine has adopted a program of plant decommissioning which includes four stages: extracting the nuclear fuel (2010-2013), conservation of the reactor systems (2013-2022), decreasing radioactivity of the systems (2022-2045), and dismantling them (2045-2065). [link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com] .

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 26, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Florida Senate today passed a bill that attempts, for the first time, to address the anti-consumer "early cost recovery" law passed in 2006 that allows the state's big power companies to shift all the financial risk of building new nuclear reactors to its customers. Senate bill 1472 adds procedural steps that require power companies seeking cost recovery from customers to show before the Florida Public Service Commission that the plants are feasible and that projected costs are reasonable. It also disallows a rate of return to power company shareholders on cost recovery if the company abandons a reactor project. The Florida House of Representatives is expected to vote on a similar bill next week. [link to www.nuclearpowerdaily.com] .

One giant leap for mankind: £13bn Iter project makes breakthrough in the quest for nuclear fusion, a solution to climate change and an age of clean, cheap energy

It may be the most ambitious scientific venture ever: a global collaboration to create an unlimited supply of clean, cheap energy. And this week it took a crucial step forward. Steve Connor reports [link to www.independent.co.uk] .

Russia and China are discussing the joint production and maintenance of the fleet of floating nuclear power stations, the head of Rusatom Overseas, Djomart Aliyev said. The idea has come from China.

“We did not reject it, but so far I cannot provide any estimates, but from a business perspective the idea is good,” Aliyev said.

Talks were held with the China National Nuclear Corporation but the commercial side of the matter wasn’t on the agenda. Currently a business model of cooperation is being formed and as a result, a joint venture of two or more companies or a private Russian company could be set up.

"We have agreed that for now it is not subject for technological cooperation research. We are only talking about commercial viability. There is a concept of creating a joint venture that would be owned by Russia and China, and would jointly funded and would create a specific fleet and it would then be jointly exploited,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev said there is no room for negotiations on producing a single floating nuclear power plant on order for a third party due to the complexity of the process.

In June 2010 the world's first floating power unit “Academician Lomonosov” with the capacity of 70 MW was launched at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg.

A floating power unit consists of a self-propelled icebreaker type vessel with two reactor units. The installed electric capacity of each reactor is 35 MW. The potential lifetime of the station is 36 years with three cycles of 12 years, between which the unit requires repair work.

The floating nuclear power plant is planned to be stationed in the city of Vilyuchinsk in Russia’s Kamchatka. [link to www.nucpros.com] .

Russia and China are discussing the joint production and maintenance of the fleet of floating nuclear power stations, the head of Rusatom Overseas, Djomart Aliyev said. The idea has come from China.

“We did not reject it, but so far I cannot provide any estimates, but from a business perspective the idea is good,” Aliyev said.

Talks were held with the China National Nuclear Corporation but the commercial side of the matter wasn’t on the agenda. Currently a business model of cooperation is being formed and as a result, a joint venture of two or more companies or a private Russian company could be set up.

"We have agreed that for now it is not subject for technological cooperation research. We are only talking about commercial viability. There is a concept of creating a joint venture that would be owned by Russia and China, and would jointly funded and would create a specific fleet and it would then be jointly exploited,” Aliyev said.

Aliyev said there is no room for negotiations on producing a single floating nuclear power plant on order for a third party due to the complexity of the process.

In June 2010 the world's first floating power unit “Academician Lomonosov” with the capacity of 70 MW was launched at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg.

A floating power unit consists of a self-propelled icebreaker type vessel with two reactor units. The installed electric capacity of each reactor is 35 MW. The potential lifetime of the station is 36 years with three cycles of 12 years, between which the unit requires repair work.

The floating nuclear power plant is planned to be stationed in the city of Vilyuchinsk in Russia’s Kamchatka. [link to www.nucpros.com] .

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

Wind has overtaken nuclear as an electricity source in China. In 2012, wind farms generated 2 percent more electricity than nuclear power plants did, a gap that will likely widen dramatically over the next few years as wind surges ahead. Since 2007, nuclear power generation has risen by 10 percent annually, compared with wind’s explosive growth of 80 percent per year.

Before the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, China had 10,200 megawatts of installed nuclear capacity. With 28,000 megawatts then under construction at 29 nuclear reactors—19 of which had begun construction since 2009—officials were confident China would reach 40,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2015 and perhaps 100,000 megawatts by 2020. The government’s response to the Fukushima disaster, however, was to suspend new reactor approvals and conduct a safety review of plants in operation and under construction. [link to www.earthtechling.com] .

A U.N. nuclear watchdog team said Japan may need longer than the projected 40 years to decommission the Fukushima power plant and urged Tepco to improve stability at the facility.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency team, Juan Carlos Lentijo, said Monday that damage at the nuclear plant is so complex that it is impossible to predict how long the cleanup may last.

“As for the duration of the decommissioning project, this is something that you can define in your plans. But in my view, it will be nearly impossible to ensure the time for decommissioning such a complex facility in less than 30 to 40 years as it is currently established in the road map,” Lentijo said.

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. have predicted the cleanup would take up to 40 years. They still have to develop technology and equipment that can operate under fatally high radiation levels to locate and remove melted fuel. The reactors must be kept cool and the plant must stay safe and stable, and those efforts to ensure safety could slow the process down. [link to www.japantimes.co.jp]

"Well-behaved women seldom make history." —Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. ~Edward Everett Hale

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

For the increasingly tired- and petulant-looking boy-wonder mayor aka Toru Hashimoto, inflicting pain and anguish on Osaka City residents by burning disaster debris with heavy metals, asbestos, and radioactive materials in the city he governs is not enough. Now he wants spent fuel from reactors in Fukui Prefecture's "Nuclear Ginza" to be stored inside the city, and all he needs is the assurance from the national government that it is safe to do so.

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

FUKUSHIMA--Officials are still struggling to dispose of some 17,000 tons of contaminated rice produced in Fukushima Prefecture after the nuclear disaster there two years ago.

Most of the rice, called "kakurimai" (rice separated for disposal), was produced in 2011.

The central government wants to incinerate the rice, but disposal facility operators have been reluctant to do so for fear that harmful rumors could start circulating if they handle contaminated material. [link to ajw.asahi.com] .

Here we go again... seems like drug addicts and alcoholics are running the US NPPs...

Licensed reactor operator at Grand Gulf fails drug test

A licensed reactor operator at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant in Mississippi tested positive test for illegal drugs during a random fitness-for-duty test. The operator has had access to the GE BWR reactor site terminated. [link to enformable.com] .

Here we go again... seems like drug addicts and alcoholics are running the US NPPs...

Licensed reactor operator at Grand Gulf fails drug test

A licensed reactor operator at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant in Mississippi tested positive test for illegal drugs during a random fitness-for-duty test. The operator has had access to the GE BWR reactor site terminated. [link to enformable.com] .

NPR: There’s been a melt-through, there’s cracks… Fukushima reactors not likely to stop leaking into ocean anytime soon — Levels in fish still as high as 2 years ago (AUDIO) [link to enenews.com]

[snip]

Ken Buesseler, Senior scientist in the Department of Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: There’s some basic health questions, like you can keep measuring fish all you want, but when will they be safe, when will the levels go down? We’re sitting here a couple of years after, and the levels for some of the fish, particularly the ones who reside on the bottom are almost as high as they were two years ago. […] So the fact that it’s still high tells us a lot of things, like there’s still a source, there still has to be cesium coming either from the reactor, the groundwater that are saturated with the radioactivity at that site and or the seafloor that’s now contaminated off Fukushima. […]

I was at a loss for words because of these mothers’ situation, and I could not sleep at night because I was so enraged at the government’s heartless response. [...]

Yet the children were exhibiting a range of symptoms including sore throats, nosebleeds, diarrhea, fatigue, headaches and rashes. The most dangerous thing is to write off causes of illness as psychosocial factors with statements like, “Your child’s stress comes from not being able to go outdoors” and that a “mother worrying will make her child sick.” [...]

A hidden epidemic is poisoning America. The toxins are in the air we breathe and the water we drink, in the walls of our homes and the furniture within them. We can’t escape it in our cars. It’s in cities and suburbs. It afflicts rich and poor, young and old. And there’s a reason why you’ve never read about it in the newspaper or seen a report on the nightly news: it has no name — and no antidote.

NPR: There’s been a melt-through, there’s cracks… Fukushima reactors not likely to stop leaking into ocean anytime soon — Levels in fish still as high as 2 years ago (AUDIO) [link to enenews.com]

[snip]

Ken Buesseler, Senior scientist in the Department of Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: There’s some basic health questions, like you can keep measuring fish all you want, but when will they be safe, when will the levels go down? We’re sitting here a couple of years after, and the levels for some of the fish, particularly the ones who reside on the bottom are almost as high as they were two years ago. […] So the fact that it’s still high tells us a lot of things, like there’s still a source, there still has to be cesium coming either from the reactor, the groundwater that are saturated with the radioactivity at that site and or the seafloor that’s now contaminated off Fukushima. […]

I was at a loss for words because of these mothers’ situation, and I could not sleep at night because I was so enraged at the government’s heartless response. [...]

Yet the children were exhibiting a range of symptoms including sore throats, nosebleeds, diarrhea, fatigue, headaches and rashes. The most dangerous thing is to write off causes of illness as psychosocial factors with statements like, “Your child’s stress comes from not being able to go outdoors” and that a “mother worrying will make her child sick.” [...]

A hidden epidemic is poisoning America. The toxins are in the air we breathe and the water we drink, in the walls of our homes and the furniture within them. We can’t escape it in our cars. It’s in cities and suburbs. It afflicts rich and poor, young and old. And there’s a reason why you’ve never read about it in the newspaper or seen a report on the nightly news: it has no name — and no antidote.

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

Almost all Japanese power companies are posting massive losses for the year to March due to a sharp rise in fuel costs for thermal power generation. Most of the country's nuclear power plants remain idle.

The utilities reported their earnings on Tuesday.All but some smaller utilities in Hokuriku and Okinawa were in the red. Four utilities posted record losses: Kyushu was down about 3.4 billion dollars; Kansai nearly 2.5 billion dollars; Hokkaido more than 1.3 billion dollars; and Shikoku about 440 million dollars.

Tokyo Electric Power Company reported over 7 billion dollars in losses. It is the utility's third straight losing year since the nuclear accident in Fukushima.

The losses were attributed to a sharp rise in prices of natural gas and other fuels after the power companies were forced to switch to thermal power generation due to the accident. [link to www3.nhk.or.jp] .

North Korea said Tuesday it regards nuclear weapons as a strategic necessity as they deter U.S. aggression while allowing its people to focus on economic development and building up a "thriving nation."

"If one is possessed of powerful nuclear deterrence, one has nothing to be afraid of and can concentrate efforts on economic construction and improvement of people's living standard," said the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. [link to english.kyodonews.jp] .

TEPCO announced on Tuesday that it had felt a group net loss of over $7 billion dollars in 2012, the third year running that the company has remained in the red. Utility officials blamed thermal power fuel costs and the suspension of its nuclear power plants for the losses.

The utility is also still facing several class action lawsuits related to their preventative measures prior to the disaster and several cases over compensation. The road ahead in 2013 and 2014 does not look much better for TEPCO, as there are no plans to restart any of the nuclear power plants, including the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata. TEPCO will realign four of its fully owned subsidiaries into two this July in order to save some 700 million yen in costs per year. [link to enformable.com] .